Steve Thomas, a partner in Irell & Manella LLP’s Los Angeles office, is the head of the art law practice group, and also a member of the real estate and commercial finance practice groups.

Mr. Thomas has structured and advised on the many varied aspects of the purchase, auction, sale, and collection of fine art, cultural property and memorabilia, including national and international transactions among collectors, dealers, museums, galleries, and auction houses. His practice in these areas includes addressing the key elements of such transactions, including provenance, title, authenticity, condition and value, the extent of due diligence and how to achieve it, and pitfalls and protections for buyers and sellers, as well as consideration of foreign, federal, and state tax consequences (deferred exchanges, VAT, income, sales, personal property, and use taxes); export and import concerns; art insurance (including art insurance review and negotiation of policy terms and provisions); intellectual property and domestic and foreign moral rights concerns; and cultural heritage, treaty, and patrimony matters, among others. As an example, in 2006, Mr. Thomas represented Maria Altmann and the other Bloch-Bauer heirs and negotiated and structured the sale of what was then reported as the most expensive painting ever sold, Gustav Klimt's "gold" portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, restituted to the Bloch-Bauer heirs by Austria and sold by them to the Neue Galerie New York. Mr. Thomas has also advised on several other world record setting art transactions, both privately and at auction.  Mr. Thomas counts among his clients some of the world’s foremost and well-known art collectors and artists.

Representing private collectors and others, Mr. Thomas has structured loans of single and multiple works of art to various museums and exhibitions, both nationally and internationally, including addressing tax, copyright, insurance, export, import, and anti-seizure concerns, among other matters. He has also advised on and negotiated some of the largest ever single owner auction consignments and auction house guarantees. Mr. Thomas frequently advises private collectors on charitable gifting of art to museums, other institutions and foundations. In addition, Mr. Thomas has advised on both public and private commissions of art, involving individual and multiple works for large public and private developments including stadium arenas, town centers and major retail and resort projects.

Mr. Thomas teaches a course in Art and Cultural Property Law at the UCLA School of Law, and lectures at conferences (including a variety of ALI-ABA and other bar association seminars and conferences, the USC Tax Institute and the Heckerling Institute), museums, legal education programs, and art-related gatherings (including IFAR). Please see the art practice area section for further description of Mr. Thomas's practice and experience.

Mr. Thomas has also authored an in-depth guide for art collectors, titled An Overview of Issues of Interest to the Art Collector. Mr. Thomas has been featured and/or quoted, and some of the transactions he has handled or advised on have been described, in a variety of articles regarding legal issues and other matters of interest to art collectors, including by AP, Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, Forbes, the Art Newspaper, BBC, Robb Report, BNA State Tax Notes, Los Angeles Business Journal, Los Angeles Daily Journal, and Private Wealth Management, among others. Mr. Thomas also serves on the Museum of Modern Art Planned Giving Advisory Committee, and several of his clients are trustees at a variety of museums.

Representing a broad base of clients, Mr. Thomas also has extensive experience in a wide array of real property matters, including development, acquisition, and sale of improved and unimproved real property, from commercial to multi-family to major residential estates. His work also includes developing construction and architect agreements for commercial and estate properties, including some of the larger casinos and resorts in Las Vegas and elsewhere in the country. Mr. Thomas also has experience in financing matters, including debt restructuring and workouts.

Mr. Thomas was selected by his peers in 2007 and again in 2008 for inclusion in Los Angeles Magazine's Southern California "Super Lawyers."  Mr. Thomas clerked with the Honorable John A. Mackenzie, Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He also has served on the board of the Western Law Center for Disability Rights and on the board and executive committee for the Inner City Law Center.

Bar & Court Admissions

• 1987, California
• 1987, U.S. District Court, Central District of California; 1992, U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. District Court, District of Arizona